I Live by the Sea

I live by the sea.   My average summer day consists of smelling the salty air and hearing the boats come in and out.   The offloading and restocking are my everyday elevator music.   Technically, the sea is a large blanket of salt water that covers much of the earth.   To me, it is a lifestyle.   I catch lobsters.
It is three in the morning and my alarm is going off.   The first thing that comes to mind is "it is finally summer".   The shrilling alarm marks the start of days where I am elbow deep in lifeless fish, packing them into small mesh bags and tying them to the center of a lobster trap.   I put thick rubber bands around snapping lobster claws, seeing money in their eyes.   My summer is spent listening to the hum of a diesel engine and the splashing of waves.   To anyone else this might sound like torture, but it is part of the life that I love.
In the winter it is a different story.   I am not listening to a diesel engine anymore.   Instead, I hear my teachers’ voices.   My days are no longer spent on the sea.   They are spent in stuffy classrooms for the majority of my time.   Winter is one of the best times to fish.   There is only one problem, Mother Nature.   In the summer, a fisherman can go out every day.   The weather during winter is very unpredictable, making it difficult to fish daily.   I am actually glad that I do not fish in the freezing cold weather during the winter.   I love the ocean, but not the cold and lifeless winter ocean.
Over the years, the market for lobster has fluctuated.   This makes lobster fishing a very risky business.   Many of the major lobster fishing towns have dried up.   Once fishing deteriorates, a small town could be in trouble.   Last spring I took a trip with my father to Montauk, New York. We went to look at a fishing boat.   Every fishing town has lobster boats for sale; it is part of the occupation.
While driving down the road, I saw rows and rows of boats with for sale signs.   This clued me in on how something that was abundant...